But the German came alive in the closing minutes of the session, first beating Hamilton's time by 0.792 seconds and then lowering his mark again to one minute 28.125 seconds - a massive 1.418secs faster than Hamilton.

That caused a sharp intake of breath and underlined exactly why Vettel is a strong favourite for the championship.

The 25-year-old German is 10 points ahead of Alonso heading into the penultimate race of the season, with the finale in Brazil next weekend.